IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (Overclockers Club) 24/03/2010

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SanDisk Manufactures First 32GB MicroSDHC

It was early last year that Toshiba and SanDisk announced they had achieved 32 Gigabit, 3 bit-per-cell capacities on 32nm MLC NAND flash technology. This provided twice the capacity that a 43nm microSD chip could offer while still maintaining a small die area. This has led to SanDisk being able to provide the world's first 32GB microSDHC card; double the capacity of any other microSD on the market today. SanDisk has beaten SAMSUNG in the race to the first 32GB microSDHC card. This Class 2 card will retail for $199.99 (£144.99) and will include a five year warranty. Pre-orders are available from today and mass shipping will occur next month during April.
"This is the highest capacity card of its type, and SanDisk is pleased to be the first to ship such an advanced product. This marks yet another important first in our innovative history in the flash memory industry."

Opera Mini Submitted to the App Store

Things are about to get interesting. Opera Software has officially submitted the Opera Mini iPhone App to Apple. The count up is now on to see if Apple will approve or reject the app. Currently, Apple only allows webkit-based third party browsers in the app store, however from a technical aspect Opera Mini isn't exactly a browser. Opera Mini relies on Opera's servers to render the page, which is then sent back to the user. The process can compress data by as much as 90 percent and results in the page being displayed much, much faster. A video demo of Opera Mini for the iPhone is available on YouTube.

“The Opera Mini for iPhone sneak peek during MWC told us that we have something special,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software. “Opera has put every effort into creating a customized, stylized, feature-rich and highly responsive browser that masterfully combines iPhone capabilities with Opera’s renowned Web experience, and the result is a high performing browser for the iPhone.”

Available on just about every mobile phone, Opera Mini is the world's most popular mobile web browser.

Firefox 3.6.2 Released

Mozilla has released Firefox 3.6.2 ahead of schedule in order to address a highly critical vulnerability that could allow an attacker to crash a victim's browser and execute arbitrary code on his/her system. All users are encouraged to update via the browser's automatic update or by downloading from http://www.mozilla.com/.

Nintendo Working on 3D Handheld

Nintendo has announced that it will join the 3D party, recently exploding thanks to movies like Avatar. The new device from Nintendo is currently being referred to as the 3-DS, and will feature a 3D display that won't require users to wear 3D glasses. Nintendo is expected to show the device at E3 in June, though no firm date was given for availability to consumers. The new 3-DS will be able to play games from both the DS and DSi. The DS has sold 125 million units since its release, and this should help add to that impressive number.

Norton's Top Ten Riskiest Online Cities

Cybercrime costs American's $560 million in 2009, and is said to affect one in five online shoppers. Now Norton and research firm Sperling’s BestPlaces have teamed up to expose the top 10 cities most vulnerable to cybercrime. The rankings were determined through a combination of Symantec Security Response’s data on cyber attacks and potential malware infections, as well as third-party data about online behavior, such as accessing WiFi hotspots and online shopping.

Out of the 50 cities that were examined, the worst place was Seattle, WA and the least riskiest city was Detroit, MI. The top 10 riskiest cities are:

1. Seattle	6. Atlanta
2. Boston	7. Minneapolis
3. Washington, D.C.	8. Denver
4. San Francisco	9. Austin, Texas
5. Raleigh, N.C.	10. Portland, Ore.

iPhone Now Available Without AT&T Contract

According to internal Apple documentation provided to Gizmodo, Apple is now selling the iPhone without the AT&T contract. The iPhone is still locked to AT&T, so you will have to use an AT&T SIM or unlock the phone. Price for the contract free iPhone is $499, $599, $699 depending on what you want with the cheapest being the 8GB 3G and the most expensive is the 32GB 3GS. The contract free iPhones are available only in the Apple Retail Stores, and you are limited to one phone per day.

Department of Energy Opens New Uranium Storage Facility in Oak Ridge, TN

Monday afternoon, the Department of Energy celebrated the opening of their new highly secured, state-of-the-art storage facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN. The $549 million Highly Enriched Uranium Facility (HEUMF) measures 300 feet by 475 feet and is the largest construction project at Y-12 in more than 40 years. Designed to protect weapon grade material, the building is reported to be able to withstand the impact of an commercial aircraft.

Using specially designed racks, the facility has a storage capacity of 24,000 containers. Each of the containers has a neutron-absorbing material inside to ensure criticality safety of the material within. The weapons material can be safely stored as it is decommissioned and converted for use in nuclear reactors.

Joining the celebration was U.S. Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Tom D'Agostino, U.S. representatives Zach Wamp and Lincoln Davis, and employees of Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL). Over 1,000 people attended private ceremony.

"This is a leading example that we can store this material safely and securely as we decommission many of our weapons and convert that material that can be used in reactors and generate clean energy," Dr. Chu said.

Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu praised the new facility and the team that worked to complete the massive structure ahead of schedule. Additionally, Dr. Chu gave support for an even bigger project at Y-12; a new Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) that would be three times the size of HEUMF and continue to replaces legacy facilities. The cost of UPF could be between $1.3 and $3.5 billion. Work on the new UPF project could begin as early as this fall.

New uranium storage facility opened at Y-12 in Oak Ridge - WATE
Energy Secretary Chu to visit Y-12, ORNL - The Oak Ridger
New weapons facility dedicated at Y-12 - Volunteer TV
Energy secretary keynotes Y-12 ceremony - The Oak Ridger
Y-12 celebrates dedication of uranium storehouse - The Knoxville News Sentinel

The Witcher 2 Teased On Its Website

It has been known for a while now and it seems like CD Projekt RED, the developers of The Witcher, will formally announce The Witcher 2. The first game came out in 2007 and was named the PC RPG of the Year. CD Projekt RED released an Enhanced Edition a year later that perfected numerous gameplay and technical shortcomings. Last September, some video was leaked out showing that The Witcher 2 was actually in development though no official word came. Fast forward a few months and the developer is ready to make an announcement before the end of March.

The official website for The Witcher shows a giant number 2 and has a link to the game’s forum. A staff member of CD Projekt RED made an announcement all but confirming the sequel, with word of a press conference to be held in March. Since March is nearly over, the sequel’s confirmation should be made official shortly. I, for one, cannot wait for it since the original game quickly became one of my favorite RPGs.

Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus to AT&T

Palm announced today that its Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will be heading to AT&T in the upcoming months. It was just the other day that Palm’s stock took a hit and now in a way to, hopefully, save face, two of its phone will be on a third carrier. The Pre and Pixi debuted on Sprint, and just a short while ago, launched on Verizon with the Plus moniker added to the name. The Pre Plus will be available for $149.99 and the Pixi Plus will have a $100 mail in rebate to lower the price to $49.99. The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will have near identical specifications to the Verzion versions, though each one can have a blue back plate instead of black. The phones will also support AT&T's Address Book service as a Synergy sync operation and will also have free auto-connect to AT&T’s WiFi hotspots.

With any luck, the addition of the phones on AT&T will help Palm recoup some losses though I still feel that a buyout would be the best option for it.

Android Based WePad In the Works

German company Neofonie has announced the WePad, a new tablet PC based on the Android OS. The WePad will feature a 1.66GHz Atom N450 and an 11.6” screen. The graphics will also be much more powerful than most e-readers, potentially allowing greater video capabilities. The included battery will last up to six hours, dependent on the type of work being done. Neofonie believes that its tablet will be much more powerful than the iPad. The WePad will feature access to two different app stores, and will also have access to a variety of newspapers and magazines.

Google Shuts Down Search Operation in Mainland China

Many were expecting an announcement from Google today regarding its position on pulling out of China. The company has made the decision to shut down its Chinese mainland operation and the Google.cn site, instead re-directing users to the Google.com.hk site, which operates out of Hong Kong. Users in China directed to the site will be offered un-censored search in simplified Chinese (those in Hong Kong will retain their existing traditional Chinese service). Google say that this approach allows them to legally deliver un-censored search in China, with continued self-censorship being the only option available was it to continue operating from the mainland. Of course, this doesn't mean Chinese users will now be experiencing completely un-censored search results, it simply shifts that activity to the Chinese government's own filtering systems, referred to as "The Great Firewall" by many. Google has also made it clear that China could now decide to cut off its services to the Chinese mainland entirely should it wish to.

While it may have shut down its search operation on the mainland, Google still intends to maintain a sales presence, as well as continue its R&D work in the country. Naturally this could also be affected by any decision to block access to the Hong Kong site. You can check on Google service availability in China yourself on this specially created page. The move could also be good news for Google's competitors in China, as it currently holds about a third of the search market there. The major benefactor is likely to be Baidu, which already holds a dominant share.

update: China has now commented on the development (it says Google has "violated its written promise" though doesn't mention what action it intends to take). The White House have also weighed in on the issue. - via engadget

SanDisk to Ship Out 32GB microSDHC Card

Well, it seems that cellphone users will be able to deck out their phone with even more storage very soon. SanDisk announced today that it will be offering a 32GB microSDHC card, available to any phone that will support it. The microSDHC card will be a Class 2 device so it would not be quite as fast as some of the 8GB and 16GB versions, but with that much storage, I would not complain about how fast my phone can read my MP3s. SanDisk is claiming the 32GB card is the first of its kind but I am nearly positive the other memory card manufacturers will not be too far behind.

The pricing of the 32GB microSDHC card will be $199.99 and it will hit e-tailers soon. It is not often that a memory card costs more than most phones with a contract, but this is certainly the case here.

Killzone News Gets Released

Even though much information has not been released for the new Killzone so far, Sony has in fact confirmed that they are working on the title, but will not yet say when they will release it. The plan for the company so far, is to officially announce Killzone 3 at this year’s E3 showing, but no gameplay is planned to be showed off to consumers. Really, most information is not yet known, but at least confirmation of the game has been released to the general public. The hype around the game is expected to be quite large, as the series itself as shown off good sales in past.

QuantumFilm Technology Set to Improve Cell Phone Cameras

InVisage Technologies Inc. out of Menlo Park, CA has announced a new technology which the company claims will deliver four times higher performance with twice the dynamic range of current technology. The new technology is called QuantumFilm and is based on quantum dots - semiconductors which have the ability to capture between 90-95 percent of available light, compared to 25 percent for ordinary silicon-based image sensors. According to InVisage, its new QuantumFilm image sensors will enable high pixel count and high performance in tiny form factors such as those in mobile phones.

Ã¢Â€ÂœIt is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to develop next-generation image sensors using silicon; essentially, silicon has hit a wall,Ã¢Â€Â says Jess Lee, InVisage President and C.E.O. Ã¢Â€ÂœThe fundamental problem is that silicon cannot capture light efficiently, but until now it has been the only option. The disruptive nature of QuantumFilm builds on silicon's success in electronics, and elevates its function using new materials that are engineered from the ground up for light capture.Ã¢Â€Â

The quantum-dot film is deposited directly onto the wafer during the final stage of manufacturing and covers 100 percent of each pixel. Because the process is akin to applying a photo-resist layer to a wafer it can easily be integrated into existing foundry processes while adding minimal cost. InVisage expects to begin sampling product to OEMs beginning in Q4 of 2010.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Overclockers Club) 24/03/2010

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